Customer Reviews

Oregon Scientific ATC 3K Waterproof Action Cam Flash Memory Video Recorder with Web Cam Capabilities (Black)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I bought this primarily to be used as a car dash camera.

I attached the helmet mounting bracket to my dashboard and record my commute to and from work each day.

The video is as good as you would see on cops or other police video shows, actually better than some.

There are only 3 buttons for the user interface, on/off, camera, and menu. The menu options I still haven't figured out.

But for the most part, you turn it on, start/stop the video, and that's it.

The device is waterproof and I plan to use it scuba diving and kayaking.

Its a very cool video recorder - very compact, comes with numerous mounting options, and records really good video.

AA batteries last about 4 hours. Rechargeable AA's last around 3 hours. A 4 GB memory card provides around 2 hours of video.

If the user interface was a little more intuitive, I would have easily given this 5 stars.

I have only used this a few times so far, but I will give my first impressions since no one else has. The gist is - the quality of the video is not great - but to get better in an action cam you would have to spend three times as much.

I took it mountain biking and captured a few videos. It was mostly easy to set up out of the box - except the direction omit some steps in how to attach the mount to the camera. But for the most part it was easy to prepare.

The video I took was in the woods just after sunset, so it was not surprising that the first sequence was a bit dark, and the next one was too dark to use. But I though it did fairly well considering the light conditions. The camera was attached to my handlebars, so the video was predictably choppy. But all in all I would have to say it was acceptable. However the sound was terrible. With any movement of the camera the sound is unusable.

I did not use any software that comes with the camera. I have a Mac with OS 10.5. The manual said it only supports OS 10.4 or lower. But I have a SD card reader so I just used that to copy the video files directly from the card. I then used iMovie to edit them.

I think I like the camera. The video quality is not great, but I don't know if there is any other action cam in the same price range that is any better.

I mounted this camera both on my helmet and my mountain bike and took it on some singletrack adventures. I had several wipeouts where I landed on the camera or the camera directly hit the ground, and it continues to work great! Since it is waterproof as well as shock-resistant, there are no microphone openings, which means that the sound quality is very poor. I just disabled the audio.

Overall - I was very impressed with the durability, ease of use, and all of the mounting hardware that it comes with.

I have mounted this camera on the handle bars of my Four Wheeler, On my Helmet while I Snow Board And on the Gun Barrel while I play Paintball. It's very tough, easy to use and Fun to make movies with. The video can be a little Jumpy in Rough activitys and the audio Is ABSOLUTLY worthless in EVERY situation because of the waterproof seal over the mic. For the money this is a perfect tool for beating the snot out of electronic gear and sill getting a mid level video. You wont get X games quality out of it, But you can clearly see a 300 feet per seccond paintball slam into your buddys head, the spray of snow as you almost land a 25 foot jump and the rise of a 40 foot sand dune in front of you.,,,Totaly worth it.

I've only had the item for 2 days now, and I would agree with some of the other reviews about poor low light capabilities. But what do you expect from a cheap camera? If you want something better and have a lot of $$$, then go for the vHoldr camera or better. Video quality is comparable to what you see on Police videos.

Pros:
- Price (less than half of vHoldr)
- AA batteries vs. built in or lithium
- Cover on the back is easy to remove and replace.
- All accessories come with versus purchasing individually with the vHoldr model
- Already in a waterproof enclosure unlike all other similar cameras
- Movies are in AVI format versus proprietory format
- No quality problems with moderate light transitions. Going from light to extreme dark will take the camera some time to adjust.

Cons:
- Screen is small and symbols are hard to read/recognize.
- Rather bulky but I don't know how it compares with other action cameras
- Poor low light capability. Can't use at night or really dark areas. Okay in moderately dark ares like shade from a tree.
- Back area where SD card and batteries are does not look very waterproof.

I purchased one of these to take with me on a motorcycle trip thru Peru.
The camera stopped working half way thru the trip. the problem is that the memory card reader does not make good contact with the memory card. any little vibration will make the unit turn off. DO NOT BUY ONE OF THESE. GO AHEAD AND SPEND THE EXTRA CHEESE ON A HERO CAM.

The ATC 3K takes video about the same quality as a high-end cell phone but the sound is garbled, whiny and non-usable. There must be some kind of membrane protecting the microphone in order to work under water and I assume that is the reason for the terrible sound. It is well worth the money and I am happy I bought it but I wouldn't recommend it for important videos--only "just-for-fun" videos. I took it camping and enjoyed the peace of mind from not worrying if it got a little damp or jarred. People might be surprised there is NO viewfinder for aiming--you just aim and hope for the best but the wide angle lens makes that fairly easy to do. I gave it 4 stars because I got what I paid for but I do wish they would stress to people before buying it just how bad the sound is.

I'm very pleased with the accessories which come with this cam. the quality of the images are on a good base, sound is not really fine, but it's a action cam, not a digital mic. overall i'm happy with it, reasonable price for this item.

It works like review's product, but has 2 problems in my opinion (test only in Mountain Bike sections):

1- Sound must be turned off, because the wind noise during the ride;
2- To use attached over helmet, this one must be very tightened in your head otherwise the helmet will shake a lot (and the video too);

But it was a good purchase.

I bought this believing that it would provide at least a passable quality. However, picture is too slow to self-adjust from lighted area to shade. Driving down a road on a sunny day, I would see clear picture until I pass under a shaded area, where the picture would immediately become too dark to view. I contacted Oregon Scientific for support, explained the issue, and, after 5 days, they responded by asking me where I bought the item. Not sure what that has to do with my question, but I sent them a copy of my receipt (only had it for less than 30 days) and haven't heard anything since. That was last month. I am now looking for a better quality camera, but I will never buy another Oregon Scientific product again...it's not worth the effort.